Category Archives: General
Ten Things Not To Say To the Worship Leader After a Sunday Service
1. “Worship was great this morning!”
I always want to respond with…”How do you know? Did God already get back to you on that?” but I know what they mean. They meant that I looked incredibly sexy and jumped around a lot and they felt warm fuzzies.
2. “You took me to the throne and back!”
This was said to me once as a 23 year old and I immediately knew that I would make out with this girl in the near future.
3. “The way the songs fit the message was powerful”.
Actually, they probably took zero account the message. Just wanted you to repeat the Woah Oh’s back to them. And you did not sing them back as loud as the crowd on the live album. So you are a disappointment. But thanks anyways.
4. “What kind of guitar are you playing?”
99% of the time it’s a Taylor. Trust me.
5. “You know what. You look a lot like Hootie. Do you ever get that?”
$!@#$@!
6. “Were you only wearing socks on stage?”
This means they were wearing TOMS. And this also means their feet smell. Really Bad.
7. “The second song of the set…Where can I find that song?”
Just go download Hillsong United, FEE, and Tomlin. You should be covered.
8. “Is the girl singing BGV’s on your left single?”
No. She is probably the pastors wife.
9. “I noticed your rosary. Are you catholic?”
Instead ask us what Forever21 we got it at. Then ask us the stations of the cross.
10. “Can you teach my 5th grader guitar lessons?”
a. No. We really don’t know how to play guitar.
b. We will say yes, then probably stand you up and your child will be crushed.
This post from Los
And You thought Your Attendance Drive was Awesome…
Here’s the setting. It’s a Sunday morning. It’s your church’s one year birthday. Service starts and your Pastor (if you don’t remember what he looks like, here is a reminder) comes up and reminds you of the challenge that you were given: Get 200 people in attendance today and he’ll go under the needle and get a tat. So service starts with less than 200 people there. Worship is jamming. And by jamming, I mean jamming…hence the signs around you that prohibit mosh pits. Worship comes to a close and the Pastor gets on stage and starts saying things like: God “has tattooed your name on his heart”. The KFC bucket is passed throughout the crowd and you throw in your offering. As you look around in disappointment because of the attendance record not being broken, you start hearing cheers and screaming, confetti is falling from the heavens like manna. The 200th man just walked in. So after service, you attend a big party on the church’s property, food, fun, games, etc. And guess what, your lead Pastor is over there getting a tattoo of the church’s logo on his forearm!
This was the story at City Church in Anaheim, California.
Gear Review: Six months of Line6 Podxt Live
About six months ago, I was first introduced to a wonderful device that every electric guitar player should have…PODxt Live. This is one of the best effect/amp modeler available for the guitar. It models 42 different amplifiers, and 24 different cab models. Interested? Keep Reading.
The most versatile piece of equipment in my collection (besides my iPhone app that is a guitar tuner) is definitely the PODxt Live. This thing has taken a beating from being hauled back and forth from different churches/venues that we have been to and it just keeps on ticking. The LCD backlit display is clear and bright enough to see while standing and playing. The different effect pedals are rugged. And by rugged I don’t mean “I’ve got to watch my weight so I don’t crush it”, I mean “Bring it on King Kong” type rugged.
The plethora of effects included with this thing are crazy. It comes with preloaded factory settings as well as room for your custom creations.
The effects that are included:
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PLUS FX JUNKIE MODELS based on*:
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One of the coolest features that I found with the PODxt Live was the feature to create and share different tones with an online community set up precisely to do just that. CustomTone is an online community of Line6 users that have uploaded their tones for the world to see. Tones that mimic Hillsong, Lincoln Brewster, Paul Baloche, Desperation Band, Hendrix, John Mayer, Stevie Ray, and many, many others have been uploaded and are free for registered members to download. Awesome.
If this sounds like something you’d like to look into, head on over to Line6 and check out the PODxt Live.
Being a Person of your Word
Call it a rant. Call it rambling. Call it whatever you like.
Lately, I have seem to have attracted all kinds of people who cannot keep their word. If I told you of these people, most of you would be surprised to know who they are. People in high positions. People being paid lots of money. People with “prestige”.
I recently read an article in Worship Leader Magazine about a gang member who had recently given his life to Christ. The article continued to tell of how after only a few months of being a Christian, he felt it “wasn’t the right thing for him”. So, being the “go-getters”, the church pursued this young man after he denounced Christianity. They asked him why after so little time as a Christian that he decided he wanted out. His response absolutely blew me away. He said that there was more love in a gang than there was in the church. Ouch. Is this the way that we portray Christ? Picking and choosing the few we want to be in our group? That’s not the way it’s meant to be! We are to be Christians (which literally is interpreted as “little Christs”). Our actions, words, emotions, feelings, etc. should reflect an image of Christ. If we say we will do something, hold true to it, no matter how big or small. No matter how much it hurts, call that person and tell them the truth. In the big and the small, let’s reflect a true image of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
What have you done to show the world Christ today?
The Pinky Promise
Did you ever Pinky Swear Promise as a Kid? Like that officially made them tell the truth or something? Do you promise? Really?
Remind God of his promises…He “Pinky Promised” them. Stand on his word. Trust in him. He will provide. He will supply. Remind him daily. As of late, my prayer has been reiterated in Rueben Morgan’s song, You said:
You Said Lyrics by Rueben Morgan You said
Ask and I’ll give the nations to you
O Lord that’s the cry of my heart
Distant shores and the islands
Will see Your light as it rises on us
You said
Ask and you will receive
Whatever you need
You said pray and I’ll hear from heaven
And I’ll heal your land
You said
Your glory will fill the earth
Like water the sea
You said
Lift up your eyes
The harvest is here
The kingdom is here
Oh Lord I ask for the nations
Whatever promises you were given, don’t give up. Don’t give in. Hold tight to them and always be on the lookout for the day when they start coming to pass. Let’s bind together and impact this world for Christ!
10,000 songs and still strong
10,000 songs. Ten thousand. Diez Mil. dix-millièmes. diecimila. 一萬 That’s alot. That’s how many songs Amy and I have sang in the last 7 years.
Here’s the breakdown:
Time at Victory: 7 years
Approximate number of times to lead worship: 1,000
Avg. Songs per Worship Service: 8
Avg. Songs per Altar call: 2
Avg. # of songs in the key of E: 15
Avg. # of songs in the key of G: 25
Avg. # of songs in a flatted/ key: 0
That means that we probably sang songs like ‘Open the Eyes’ and ‘I Could Sing of Your Love Forever’ about 400-500 times apiece..Yowza!
So hat’s off to the last 10,000 songs that we sang, and here’s to the next 1,000,000. May God continue to grow and bless us 10 times over on the next 10,000. We pray God’s blessings on you all…thanks for letting us worship with you. If you haven’t worshipped with us yet, what are you waiting on?
The Generation of I
Hercules I-Stand Electric Guitar Stand
Nowdays, if you haven’t noticed, there’s an “i” everything. It all seems to have started with ipod. Then came itunes. Then all the accessories: idock, icable, ispeakers,idvd. iPhone. Then came the app store with all the games like ibowl, ifish…etc. i,i,i! Well now, there’s actually one ‘i’tem (hah!) that I think actually looks pretty sweet. It’s called I’-Stand. It’s a guitar stand made by Hercules that’s a disc and looks to fold up rather nicely (for those you gig-ers). You can check it out over at Musician’s Friend. If you don’t already have a product that starts with an ‘i’, then I say welcome to the iworld when you ibuy this iguitar istand. 😀
Peace!
Come Worship with Garo Nargiz
So I am pumped. Maybe this is better…I AM PUMPED! On 1-18-09, Garo Nargiz is coming to share his love for God with us at Victory. Garo has been an inspiration to me ever since I have started thinking about becoming involved in the Worship Ministry. Today, our congregation knows and sings many of Garo’s songs, and they seem to thoroughly enjoy them! I first met Garo at a mid-sized church here in Tulsa, where he was leading Worship Service. It was then that I began to see my calling begin to unfold in front of me. Garo has since been commissioned as an Assembly of God Missionary to Brazil! How exciting!
I extend my hand of invitation to you to join with us on 1-18-09 at 10:30am. If you’ll leave a comment or email me, I’ll give you the heads up on directions, schedules, etc. Come expecting great music and an awesome word from God (and Garo).
I am a (wanna be) Guitar Hero, period.
So Santa has already came to my house. (He visits early every year. Keeps telling me that I’m very good every year and shows up to hang out and give me my gifts. Me and Claus’, we’re buds.) Being the jolly old man soul that he is, he knew that I really wanted and needed the new Guitar Hero World Tour video game. Right now I’m touring in Hong Kong, scraping up enough cash to hopefully get a gig in the USA. Yeah, what is that about? You have to play in these foreign countries before you can get a gig in the good ol’ US of A.
Maybe that is a just a kick in the reality when it comes to the music business. Get big in another country first, then come to the US. Maybe the US only lets in the greatest foreign musicians?!? Apparently, I’m not rich enough to play in the USA yet. You have to have at least $8000 earned before you play this one show in the US. Hmmm…. how many non-US musicians have made it big here?
These are off the top of my head:
- Coldplay
- U2
- Michael Buble
- Eric Clapton
- Beatles
- Sting
- Radiohead
- Pink Floyd
- The Rolling Stones
- Duran Duran
- Fleetwood Mac
- Oasis
- The Pretenders
- AC/DC
Wow. No wonder it costs $8000 to play a gig in the US on Guitar Hero WT. Check out David Crowder’s Guitar Hero Guitar in the Video Below. Awesome.
Worship is Life 